³ Their father gave them many gifts of silver, gold, and valuable possessions, together with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.^(A)

²³ He dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities; he gave them abundant provisions and found many wives for them.

⁵ Rehoboam resided in Jerusalem, and he built cities for defense in Judah.

The Right of the Firstborn

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives, one of them loved and the other disliked, and if both the loved and the disliked have borne him sons, the firstborn being the son of the one who is disliked, ¹⁶ then on the day when he wills his possessions to his sons, he is not permitted to treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the firstborn.^{(A) 17} He must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the one who is disliked, giving him a double portion^[a] of all that he has; since he is the first issue of his virility, the right of the firstborn is his.^(B)

⁶ But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.